I don’t often make side dishes. We are a one pot meal type of family. If I do make a side it’s just a “sauteed garlicky green”. While this might fall into that category, the additions of peppers and peanuts just made it much more then another “garlicky green” side dish. Chomping into a pepper was like a burst of sunshine! Something we definitely need in the mid-atlantic/northeast. The amount of snow we have been getting plus ice storms has me craving warm weather and sunshine. Two things I’m not totally fond of! Is this a sign of old age that I’m against the winter and snow for the first time in my life? I hope not! The salted peanuts added a nice texture and taste to the whole thing. Instead of adding chopped garlic I used garlic salt instead. I’ll admit to not wanting to chop garlic. I served this along side our weekly meal of rice and beans. It worked beautifully together. Especially the peanuts with the seasoned beans! I’ve already purchased more peppers and kale to make this again. I’m (maybe) looking forward to the summer months (?) when I have kale and peppers growing in my garden. I’ll be able to eat this whenever I feel like it!

When I first heard about Isa Chandra Moskowitz going on a culinary tour I knew that I had to go. I immediately posted on facebook seeing who would go and of course my vegan bestie, Dianne, jumped on board and snatched up 4 tickets for the two of us and our husbands. My husband was a bit skeptical about the whole thing. He didn’t really understand what would actually be happening and quite frankly neither did I. I just knew I wanted to see Isa speak and eat her food.

We arrived early and with ease. NYC on Superbowl Sunday is a ghost town. It was great! It was fun to just sit and chat and people watch. Waiting to see people we know in real life or recognize from online.

First Course

When it was time for the whole evening to officially start our first course was brought out. It was a Caesar Salad with Brussels Sprouts it came with grilled tofu, tahini caper dressing and pine nuts. Our plates unfortunately didn’t get any of the pine nuts. Through instagram I can tell that a lot of people did get pine nuts so it was just a mishap for us..I guess? Besides the missing pine nuts it was a delicious salad! The tofu was perfect. Just perfect. We aren’t big tofu eaters, especially my husband, and he even liked it. He also doesn’t like Brussels Sprouts but by the magic of Isa he enjoyed these.

Second Course

This was the course I was looking forward to the most. The Tamale! I love tamales. Love them. I happened to also really love this tamale. Made with a lentil chorizo and served with guacamole and mole rojo. The menu said it came with a coconut sour cream but like the pine nuts…we didn’t get it. Besides the missing sour cream, like the pine nuts above, it was a great dish. The tamale had a perfect texture and the filling wasn’t overpowering. The guacamole was fresh tasting and the mole rojo had a great cinnamon flavor to it that mixed well with everything else on the plate. I wish I could have eaten another one!

Third Course

Chickpeas and Dumpling, a creamy chickpea stew. It was a great dish for a snowy night. So comforting and warm. I’ll eat anything that has a dumpling in it. The secret to this dish, as demonstrated by Isa cooking on stage, was adding cashew cream to the stew. A favorite trick of mine to use at home. Cashews make everything better in my opinion.

Fourth Course

Of course the perfect way to end a meal is with a chocolate cake…or Isa’s Chocolate Mousse Cupcake. A chocolate cupcake, chocolate mousse on top, coconut whipped cream and raspberry sauce. It doesn’t get any better. I will say that I found the cake to be very salty BUT I liked it. I don’t know if that was a mistake in the kitchen or intentional but I really liked it that way and would eat it that way again, happily!

Isa was of course her charming and beautiful self onstage. Telling us about each course, showing us how she made some of the components, answering questions from the crowd about cooking, her new restaurant Modern Love and beauty tips like how she gets her eyeliner so perfect.

It was such a lovely evening with great friends, good food and no traffic while driving back to NJ in the snow storm that was just beginning as we left! I would do it all over again! Yay Isa!

(not pictured was the Wine Tasting Menu that both Dianne and I ordered. 4 wines. 1 for each dish.)

To go along with my Soup Swap post on Monday, today I’m sharing the recipe for the soup I brought to the swap. I’ll admit that I wasn’t alway’s a soup person. I just never cared for them or gave them much thought. However for the past few years I’ve become crazy for soups. I’ve become one of those people who are always cold. Like ALWAYS COLD. No matter what I do. I think one of the reason’s I’ve enjoyed exercising lately is because it’s the only time I’m warm. Anyway..soups are the perfect warm you up food. This one, pictured above, has been a favorite this winter. I’ve made it a few times for us and knew that it would be perfect for the swap since its so easy to make a huge pot of it. Its a great soup to make when you have bits and pieces of different vegetables in the fridge/freezer that need to be used up. That’s really how I came up with this recipe.

I recommend you make it once by the recipe and then have fun changing things up. Change the veggies, change the beans, use small shaped pasta instead of the quinoa. As evidence the version pictured above has kale and chickpeas in it instead of the white beans and string beans. Just go for it!

Quinoa, White Bean, Vegetable and Tomato Soup

2015-02-03 11:59:01

This recipe makes a lot of soup. At least 12 cups.
If you think the soup is getting too thick you can alway's add more broth to the pot.

The idea of a food swap has always been intriguing to me. Last year I even secured some food swap themed URL’s in hopes of starting one locally. While that hasn’t happened yet, on my end, two friends of mine have recently held swaps. The first was a vegan/gluten free food swap at my friend Jen’s house. I came home with many quinoa dishes, a delicious hummus, a black rice, mushroom and lemongrass dish and a walnut sauce. I contributed coconut chocolates. I have no photographic evidence of this event at all or of any of the food I took home!

A few weeks later my friend Dianne held a Soup Swap on National Soup Swap Day. This day I do have photographic evidence of..but of just the soups…I didn’t take pictures of the amazing appetizers Dianne served at her swap.

Chef AJ’s Spicy Red Lentil Chili by Jen

Everyone in attendance brought 4 quarts of soup in four 1 quart containers…mostly mason jars. Since only 4 of us were able to attend we were each able to bring home one of each soup. Lucky us!

I made my Quinoa, White Bean and Vegetable Tomato Soup, I’ll be sharing the recipe for it this week!

Dianne made a Spicy Dahl and Carrot Soup with little baggies of Spiced Pumpkin Seeds.

We are Rice and Bean fanatics. Its a weekly sometimes twice weekly meal for us. It helps that the kids, mostly, like it. With that it’s a good vehicle to hide veggies in. I usually finely grate carrots and zucchini into the beans and add some cherry tomatoes that pop and melt themselves into the beans. The kids are clueless. Its wonderful.

Rice and Bean Quesadilla with Peach Salsa

A quick lunch the next day with reheated rice and beans pressed into a whole grain tortilla. Served with a peach salsa from Trader Joe’s. It was very refreshing for a snowy day.

Brown Rice Arancini

This time I made a double batch of my Yellow Brown Rice. I cook the rice in rich chickenless broth and turmeric. Its so savory and delicious. I was going to use the extra rice for another meal a day or two later when a fabulous idea popped into my head: ARANCINI!!! This batch of rice was a bit sticky which is perfect for making the Italian treat. Its something I’ve been thinking about trying to make for ages now. We just never have extra rice or risotto laying around.

I formed the rice into walnut sized balls, dipped them in unsweetened almond milk and then rolled them in mixture of bread crumbs and nutritional yeast. Fried them in olive oil and sprinkled them with salt. They were fabulous even though they were made with brown rice. They are usually made with a risotto or similar type of rice and sometimes stuffed with a meat filling or mozzarella cheese. I was really surprised how well these worked out and how delicious and simple they were. My mom was even impressed! This is definitely a recipe I’ll be fine tuning over the next month. I want to eat them all the time with various fillings!